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Presented by the Alliance for Alabama’s Infrastructure

1. Trump to border.

President Donald Trump is taking the shutdown battle to the U.S.-Mexico border, seeking to bolster his case for the border wall after negotiations with Democrats blew up again.

Trump got up and left a meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday as efforts to end the partial government shutdown stalled further.

“I said bye-bye,” he tweeted soon after.

During his stop Thursday in McAllen, Texas, Trump will visit a border patrol station for a roundtable and get a security briefing on the border.

McAllen is located in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest part of the border for illegal border crossings.

The unraveling talks on Capitol Hill prompted further speculation about whether Trump would declare a national emergency and try to authorize the wall on his own if Congress won’t approve the money he’s seeking.

“I think we might work a deal, and if we don’t I might go that route,” he said.

The partial government shutdown is about to get real for affected federal employees. Tomorrow (Friday) is the day they’ll start losing paychecks.

2. Speaker talks rules, roads, & other House priorities.

House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said the House GOP’s plan to change the operating rules and limit debate for Special Order Calendars was intended to hasten discussion on actual issues and prevent stalling tactics.

McCutcheon spoke to reporters after the House adjourned its organizational session.

Asked why he felt it was important to pursue the rule change, McCutcheon said he wants House floor debates to be about issues and legislation, not stalling tactics over process.

“As Speaker, I feel like my job is to make sure ever representative has the opportunity to represent their district and represent the people of their district. I enjoy a healthy debate on an issue. I’m not much filibuster – I’lll just be honest with you,” he said.

“When you have an eight hour day, and every Special Order is being debated for two hours, it takes away from your opportunity to debate a piece of legislation.”

Asked if he felt members of the House were satisfied with the compromise, McCutcheon said Republicans and Democrats differed while finding common ground.

‘Todd, I think that depends on what party you’re in.”

“I think at the end of the day we found a compromise that would be fair. Everybody is not going to be 100 percent happy, but I think overall the majority felt good about what we did.”

McCutcheon also discussed what he saw as priorities for the upcoming Regular Session, including clarifying the ethics code, finding ways to fund prisons, school safety, a potential lottery, and raising gas tax revenue to help pay for improving infrastructure.

A message from

The Alliance for Alabama’s Infrastructure

The Alliance for Alabama’s Infrastructure welcomes members of the Alabama Legislature back to the Capital City for the 2019 Organizational Session.

Thank you for your commitment to serving Alabama and working on behalf of the people to solve problems.

As you know, one critical problem all Alabamians deal with daily is our crumbling roads and bridges. The Alliance looks forward to continuing a conversation about how smart investments in transportation infrastructure can protect and create jobs and increase Alabama’s economic competitiveness.

Did you know: In a 2017 national survey of corporate executives, highway accessibility was ranked as the #1 most important factor when a company selects a new site.

Click HERE to learn more about the growing statewide effort to #FixALRoads .

3. Senate Committees Announced.

Marsh said the Committee on Assignments had worked to match Senators with panels that complemented their skills and interests.

“I look forward to working with these members in the upcoming session. There are some tough issues facing the state and I believe these committees and their members are best equipped to address these issues in a way that benefits the people of Alabama,” Marsh said.

Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) said he appreciated the way the Republican majority handled the committee assignments.

“Because we are in the minority we’re only going to get so many seats on committees,” Singleton said. However, I think what has been done was fair based on the percentage of people that we have.”

There were few changes in chairmanships. As expected, Sen. Greg Albritton takes over Ways & Means General Fund. Also, Sen. Clyde Chambliss will chair Local Legislation (LL1) and Sen. Tom Butler returns to chair Military and Veterans Affairs.

“This moment has been years in the making,” Jones said upon enactment of the bill.

“I want to thank my colleagues Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Bobby Rush for their strong partnership throughout this effort, which started with a group of talented high school students who encountered a problem and wanted to find a solution. I am excited that their classroom idea and the solution we worked on together has now been signed into law by the President of the United States.”

The legislation was actually first created by students from Hightstown High School in Hightstown, New Jersey and their teacher, Mr. Stuart Wexler. The bill is modeled after the President John F. Kennedy, Jr. Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which created an orderly and effective process for reviewing, declassifying, and releasing thousands of documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy.

5. Smoking ban goes into effect.

The sugar-white sand in Gulf Shores is Alabama’s most popular half-mile stretch of public beachfront.

This area also is undergoing $15 million in renovations and city officials want to keep it looking nice.

So city officials adopted a wide-ranging list of regulations that included an Alabama first: The public beachfront will be smoke-free.

Alabama has 52 miles of beaches, which includes state property and Mobile and Baldwin counties. Dauphin Island, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores have jurisdiction over the most popular public beach spots that fuel a significant chunk of Alabama’s $14.3 billion tourism industry.

The smoke-free public beach in Alabama is part of an ordinance that also bans pets, fireworks, alcoholic beverages, open fires, drones, and laser pointers. The ordinance makes exceptions for service animals.

Bonus: Skip Tucker.

Sometimes those traditions might not seem all that traditional, he writes.

After the passing of his dear friend, Prof. Carmelo Astilla, Skip recalls the ways in which “Melo” made America home for himself and his family.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Ultimately he brought the rest of the family to the N’Awlins area: Fernando, Fenita, Carmelo, Sonia, Manuel, Marling and Ernie. Ernie I never met. He got here only to be claimed as a young man by Louisiana waters.

“Here they struggled. And they studied. And they worked. And they married. After marriage, they worked and studied harder.

“The families and their tradition now includes doctors, a dentist, a lawyer, nurses and pros in the medical field across the country, a computer expert and top level business execs. There are pharmaceutical folks. There’s a classical pianist and also a professional opera singer. And another teacher of history, with straightline DNA. These people are wildly talented, merry and bright.

“This is important to me and therefore perhaps to those intelligent, clever, insightful people who read my stuff – important I say, due to the fact that the lawyer and I married. Furthering the family tradition, she earned degrees from LSU, Duke and Notre Dame.

“Sometimes I ask her to use small words so I can sort of catch on to what she’s saying…”